Action Adventure

(Photograph by Cathy Cowden/for SVCN/06/21/2014) Member Ley Howell and daughter Charlotte Rango of the NEROCali Chapter of LARP - Live Action Role-Playing at Parkway Park in Santa Clara on Saturday, June 21, 2014.

One need not travel all the way to J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth to find elves, wizards, thieves and trolls. Members of the live action role play group NEROCali breathe life into characters from their own fantasy world--called Tyrra--once a month in the South Bay.

Participants bring their brand of magic, costumes and weaponry to wage daylong mock battles in parks in San Jose, Campbell, Los Gatos and Santa Clara. Dressed in garb that's mythical and medieval in nature, players become characters born of their own imaginations, skills and abilities.

The players can and do borrow ideas from books like The Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter series. Outcomes of battles are determined by "sword combat and spells," according to the rule book, and players can earn points with which to "build" characters.

NEROCali is a franchise of NERO, a nationwide game with 5,606 active members, said Henry Thomas, San Jose chapter owner and "game master." NERO began in1986. The 47 members of the Bay Area's NEROCali chapter are men and women, from teens to baby boomers, as well as children. The world of Tyrra is theirs to enter for a fee of about $20 for a day event, and sometimes more for special weekend excursions.

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Players ascribe attributes to their fantasy characters. The characters evolve over time with changes tracked on a "character sheet." Players are free to travel to other states to join in other chapters' story lines or battles.

"Everybody is different in why they are role-playing games," said Thomas, who lives in the Almaden area. "Some just want to have a good time. Some want to act. Me? In real life I'm a nice guy, so when I get out there I want to be the bad guy."

Thomas, 30, has been playing in the NERO game since 2003 but has been in different live action fantasy games since he was in his teens. Now, as chapter owner and the licensee of NERO in the South Bay, he still plays but said he ends up being "referee" at these events. That means making sure the plot lines are running smoothly for NeroCali's members. Thomas carries the script for each game with him and guides the players through the day's events to keep them on track.

Thomas' own role-play character, called Simon, is something he has built over the years. Simon is a cloaked mage--a wizard--who uses "harmonious" Earth magic and tends to put his own needs first. He said his character has developed from a curious fellow to a jaded man--very different from the father to a newborn daughter he is in real life.

Lonnie Davis, a 45-year-old Campbell resident and chapter director for NEROCali, explained that players build their character's persona through a "point-buy" system.

"Each adventure that you attend grants your character experience that you transform into and build that you use to purchase new skills or augment existing ones," he said. For example, there are levels of archery skills that can grow as a player earns game points.

In addition, "There are defined races and professions that add unique style and flair to the games," according to Davis. Races are not those of this world, however. Instead, they are elves, clerics and goblins.

Davis, who has been involved in role playing games for 30 years, portrays a barbarian fighter named Gwalchmai Vandallarius, or Jarl Vandal, who is the leader of the barbarian tribes. His partner Ley Howell plays a barbarian healer named Aine Damhain.

"I started playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1977 and have continued on and off throughout the years," Davis said of his beginnings in the role play world. "My beautiful partner Ley and I attend many gaming conventions. We just enjoy role playing and costuming, and sharing that feeling of enrichment with others."

He said that many who participate in live action role play are interested in the sci-fi and fantasy world and want to "stop playing the fighter [in a video game] and be the fighter." Davis said he and Howell are "somewhat stereotypical" in that sense but break convention in other ways.

"Each player is responsible for making or buying their own costume and properly representing the race that they portray," he added. Many players constuct their own costumes from fabrics or other repurposed clothing, though medieval costuming can easily be found on the Internet.

"Just like individuals in the real world, each character has his or her own motivations that govern how they interact with other players," Davis explained.

Every month, additions to the storyline specific to the NEROCali chapter are submitted by players for a fee of $20 to $40, Thomas said. This allows players to contribute ideas, usually for their own character's development, that otherwise wouldn't make it into the game. Sometimes a game can last a single day, and other times it must be continued at another meeting.

Players assemble at a local park, usually Parkway Park in Santa Clara or Kelley Park in San Jose, to begin their daylong adventure, which includes casting spells represented by the tossing of packets of bird seed, and hand-to-hand "combat." Typically the day begins at 10 a.m. and ends when the sun goes down. There is a lunch break midday--even fantasy characters need sustenance.

Davis said NERO is a "medium touch" battle scenario where the safety of players is a priority. Combat weapons are made of tsoft "boffer," or foam, and latex.

"Players are usually countered by NPCs [non-player characters], who are the monsters and adversaries common to high fantasy type stories," he said, adding that anyone can be a nameless troll. He said that the NPCs' involvement is under the guidance of the game master or the people running the event.

"Interactions between the NPCs and player characters can be a simple exchange of information, trade or even combat," he said.

People who are not paying members can join a game as non-player characters, Thomas said. "That's totally cool because you're getting out there, getting active and playing the game."

Family members, like Howell's 9-year-old daughter Charlotte, often join in the game as well.

"I got into it because Lonnie has done it forever and it's a nice couples, family activity; there are a lot worse ways to spend the day," Howell said. "Basically, we figured out what I would like to do--not physically fight a lot and be helpful--and how it could bolster his character. When my daughter wanted to play, we made her my apprentice."

Richard Cappels, 37, from South San Jose, known as Orc warrior Lugg Squeekieslayer, said his daughter, girlfriend and mother all participate in NEROCali events with him.

"I regularly bring [my 7-year-old] with me--she even has a couple [Renaissance Faire] outfits she wears," he said. "My girlfriend attends as well; she used to do Ren Faire and still has all her old outfits. My mother attends sometimes as our volunteer nurse."

To other people in the park, the costumed bunch battling and casting spells may seem, well, out of this world. Thomas said the most common response is, "What the hell?" However, the action piques the interest of some onlookers, he said, with reactions ranging from "Looks like fun" to "Where do I sign up?"

"I've had children ask us what we are doing, and then they brought us spell packets they found that were left behind from a previous battle," he said. "I've had people sit down and eat their picnic while watching us like it was a free show."

NEROCali allows people to be who or what they want to be in a safe place, while providing respite from everyday life.

"I have to remind myself that we're just acting," Thomas said, adding that people shouldn't take themselves too seriously.

The chapter's owner said that community building is also a big part of the group's goals.

"We look out for each other as well as try to help out the community, like [when] there was a bake sale to support the park we use, NEROCali bought up most of what they had in support of the neighborhood," Thomas said. "We are a community and we care about the community."